After over half a century of armed conflict, the political atmosphere in Colombia is changing. Peace talks with the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) have spurred public debate around two unresolved issues: rural development, and the political participation of left-wing parties –hindered by bipartisanism until two decades ago. In this scenario, the Habana agreements and an eventual post-conflict have become the center of the political arena as well as the major asset of the government facing the next election. This paper analyses the next-to-last year of Juan Manuel Santos’s presidency, the major decisions in national and
international policy, and indicates the configuration of forces for the 2014 elections.